Published: November 06, 2009 09:44 pm      

Area schools honoring veterans

Across Madison County next week, school students will be honoring veterans with a variety of programs and celebrations.

At B. Michael Caudill Middle School and St. Mark Catholic School, students are going directly to the source, learning about Veteran’s Day from the men and women who served our country.

Students from B. Michael Caudill are digging into their own family history and getting to know the people in their neighborhood in an attempt to learn about veterans.

“We’ve engaged the entire student body in Veteran’s Day education and they are getting actively involved and are learning who are the vets in their family and their neighborhoods,” said Debbie Hale, who teaches social studies and is an I-8 instructor at B. Michael Caudill.

“They’re learning their own families’ military heritage,” Hale said. “Some of them didn’t even know they had relatives in the military.”

Each student has written a tribute to America’s veterans and five of those students will be selected by instructors to read their tribute during the school’s Veteran’s Day program.

The program, which will be held at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, in the gymnasium, will include the Madison Central High School color guard presenting the flag, B. Michael Caudill’s choir singing a patriotic song, the middle school dance team performing a tribute, the “Pledge of Allegiance” led by special education teacher Jon Lucas, and “Taps,” performed by 8th-grade student Brooke Eversole.

Leading up to Veteran’s Day, St. Mark has assigned each grade to study a different branch of the military through art and writing assignments.

Pre-K has been learning about the Air Force, kindergarten the Army, first-grade the Navy, second-grade the Marine Corps and third-grade the Coast Guard.

During Wednesday’s program, which begins at 10:30 a.m., students will have the chance meet and interact with members of the different branches of the military.

“Veterans that are members of the church or friends or family of the students are invited to come to the school and give the students an opportunity to ask questions,” said Natalie Fitzsimmons, marketing chair for St. Mark.

In between the question and answer session, the students will recite the “Pledge of Allegiance” and the program will end with a prayer at exactly 11 a.m., as a tribute to World War I officially ending at the 11th hour of Nov. 11 in 1918, said Fitzsimmons.

After the ceremony, students will learn from military personnel about leadership skills and flag etiquette.



Other programs

Berea Independent Schools

Berea Community Middle/High School will hold a Veteran’s Day program at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The Madison Southern High School Junior ROTC will present the flag, followed by “The Star Spangled Banner” sung by the Berea Community Middle School/High School choir and the “Pledge of Allegiance” led by Deborah Wilkerson.

Alex Todd will give a presentation entitled “Freedom,” Kim Centers and Berea Community Elementary School faculty will sing “Proud to be an American,” a service will be led by Lilianna Bagnoli, followed by the introduction of keynote speaker, 6th District Commander Bill Ramsay, DAV (Disabled American Veterans).

The program will conclude with the Berea Community Middle School choir performing “Get America Singing,” a presentation entitled “Courage” by Emily Eckler, “Simple Gifts” performed by the Berea Community Middle School/High School and “Taps,” as performed by Spencer Mattingly.



Madison County Schools

Clark-Moores Middle School has scheduled a Veteran’s Day chorus concert on Wednesday at 8:45 a.m. in the gymnasium.

Madison Middle School’s program is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday

Kirksville Elementary School has scheduled a Veteran’s Day ceremony at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Mayfield Elementary School’s program is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

White Hall Elementary School has scheduled a Veteran’s Day performance for 9 a.m. on Wednesday, in the school gymnasium.



Tim Mandell can be reached at tmandell@richmondregister.com or 623-1669 ext. 6696.